The Memories of Past News: Ebola and ISIS

Nick Isdith, Staff Reporter

The answer may vary from person to person, but most of the time they’ll tell you a very similar thing.  News is supposed to be important. It should always impact the reader’s life in one way or another. It should give the reader a reason to care and connect with whoever or whatever is the focus of the article. With that said, no matter how important an issue may be, most of the time they are only in the news for so long before they are almost completely forgotten by both the media and the public.

Just months ago you would be hard pressed to turn on the TV and not hear about Ebola or ISIS, and rightfully so. Both problems have been the cause of countless deaths and the suffering of thousands of innocent people. Current events such as these two have been replaced with new issues, this time domestically, with things like the Michael Brown case stealing the spotlight.

It is not because the Brown case is dramatically more important to the public (although one could definitely argue that it affects Americans directly far more than the likes of Ebola or ISIS), but rather is more current than the other two. News is called “news” for a reason, it contains information that is fresh, and has never before been heard. Things like Ebola and ISIS have been talked about to death and in a way are almost boring to many people.

“The media is very ignorant to events that are actually most important in society because they only focus on things that seem the most attractive,” says 11th grader Mohammad Uddin, who believes that things as important as Ebola and ISIS should never simply be forgotten. Senior Simone Singletary, believes that, “it’s good that we are discussing issues that are happening in our own backyards, but it’s also important to reflect on issues in other countries that could affect us.”

A 12th grader who requested to be named as “Lil Wayne” said, “The natural flow of events dictate that when a new thing happens, the old things seem to fade away.” That’s a rather neutral view, opposed to another 12th grader, who asked not to be named, who said, “I believe that the media is focusing too much on inside the country rather than larger world affairs.”

One looking for proof that Ebola and ISIS have almost completely dropped off the radar need only look at Google Trends, a part of Google that allows users to enter key terms and see how often people have searched them. Ebola and ISIS have hit rock bottom on the charts, while terms like Fergason or Michael Brown have shot up. Simple things like this further prove the volatility of the market in which “news” resides. After viewing the statistics, it’s clear that we as a people should not only focus what’s going on inside our country, but to continue to put attention towards large global issues that pose a threat to everyone, rather than just ourselves.